The Greatest Gig

I had one of those reminders today about why I have the greatest job in the world.  It was late afternoon and I should have been packing for my trip to Abu Dhabi tomorrow, but instead I was sitting in my office working up material for class tomorrow.  My excellent and far more brilliant friend David Kite was sitting in his office across the hall.  David was working up material for a discussion tomorrow on Chinese Buddhism while I was putting together a Powerpoint with musical links for a discussion that somehow tied together Igor Stravinsky, Miles David and Neil Young.  Essentially it was about the artistic desire to blaze new territory, fight against conformity and expectations, and the audience's inability to "get it" (which, in my fevered brain anyway, logically tied together Rite of Spring, Bitches Brew and Tonight's the Night - and I'm sure that somehow passages from W. Sumerset Maugham's The Moon and Six Pence will sneak in).  And while the logic might be undeniable only to me, it was another reminder of what a gift it is to be a teacher.  In addition to helping developing mind to think, I'm also being paid to create.  I ran back and forth to David's office several times so that we could swap ideas.  It was amazing and just left me energized and thankful.  And, if nothing else, I get to play Young's Tired Eyes, one of my all-time favorite songs, from Tonight's the Night, the greatest album in rock history (this clearly deserves its own blog posting), in class.  What a gig.